The receivables management industry deals with the collection of unpaid debt in all sectors of the economy (e.g., health care, student loans, credit cards, and retail). While some entities may try to collect their own unpaid debts, typically the delinquent accounts are turned over to a third party debt collector to manage the process of collecting the unpaid amounts. Such debt collectors employ various strategies to collect on unpaid accounts, such as making multiple phone calls to the debtor and sending a series of letters to the debtor's house. While implementation of one strategy for all debtors may be simple, it has been found that different and more tailored strategies for different types of debts are more effective and maximize returns on collection efforts. Unfortunately, such tailored strategies are costly and difficult to implement and manage.
Moreover, due to the variety of different industries and debtors that a debt collector deals with, it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of different strategies and what changes should be made to such strategies on a timely basis. As a result, some accounts become inactive and the debt collection process fails. It is also not abnormal for a debt collector to be contractually obligated to only use certain debt collection strategies for a client's account. In implementing such strategies, it is often difficult for a debt collector to ensure such obligations are being met. Without the ability to properly monitor and manage the implemented strategies, it becomes extremely difficult to determine the effectiveness of the strategies, comply with client requirements, and make improvements to such strategies.
Debt collectors also understand that the effectiveness of each collection strategy depends upon the personal information of the debtors. The account data, which includes information about the debt, usually does not change after the debt collector receives it from the client, unless portions of the data were recorded in error. Therefore, the account data typically does not need to be updated after initial receipt. However, the account party data (e.g., address or place of employment of the debtor) can change during the life of the account. Without the ability to properly monitor, manage, and update the account party data of debtors, it is extremely difficult to be successful in collecting unpaid amounts.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a way to effectively implement, manage, monitor, and improve collection strategies.